1.1.11-Lovethefutureisthine
Brick!Club 1.11,1.12,1.13 Just gonna put them all together tonight- sorry for being so behind; life is WAYYYY getting in the way lately and that’s not cool. Life shouldn’t totally eclipse my literature :p 1.1.11 First off, I noticed that we still spend a lot of time talking about how cool Myriel is in this chapter before we start discussing any flaws he might have. I’m not really sure what to make of this, but that’s at least how I read it. I also thought it was interesting to see Napoleon split so many families, because of course, that comes back later. And may also be issues for other characters where it is not explicitly stated. I appreciate the line “While allowing that God had not created Monseigneur Welcome for political functions…” This is where the important idea of it’s ok to not be perfect because that doesn’t have anything to do with your value as a person came in strongly to me for the first time. We have this figure that we have been basically told to revere, and our omnipotent (well, mostly) narrator says that he is not perfect, but that’s PERFECTLY FINE BECAUSE GOD DIDN’T MEAN HIM TO BE! I don’t know, it hit home for me maybe a little more than the examples we have seen in other characters so far. i agree with most readers as they mention that just because you like a leader when he comes to power doesn’t mean that you cant change your mind if he quits doing his job. 1.1.12 "Success is a very hideous thing, and its resemblance with merit deceives men. For the herd, success has nearly the same profile as supremacy." I have a TOUGH time explaining this to people as an artist and it was REALLY nice to see my sentiments validated, man. That is all. No, really. That’s pretty much all I have to say about the chapter. 1.1.13 THIS IS THE CHAPTER I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. I really, really like Myriel you guys. Not just because he’s a nice guy, but because he isn’t afraid to throw out so many things he thinks the church does wrong. He isn’t afraid to act against one of the biggest sources of authority in the WORLD at that time. And he still manages to keep a position of power. What a way to teach the reader to always do what’s right, man. Sometimes that can be rewarded. And then there’s the line “'It was through this, ‘because he loved much,’ that he was considered vulnerable by ‘serious men,’ ‘grave persons,’ and ‘reasonable people,’ those favorite phrases of our melancholy world in which selfishness is under the guidance of pedantry.'” This is another instance of being seen as Very Good for going against society and also justifies instances in my life so i really like it okay This is the chapter where I was able to confirm my idea that Hugo/Myriel and I have similar religious beliefs and people usually look at me like I’m NUTS when I mention some of my thoughts and so, once again, we will return to the theme of this section for me, which is “BOY is it nice to have so many of my thoughts written down in classic literature because I am the center of the universe.” Also, huzzah for reminding us how much Myriel has changed throughout his life. He was not always a saint and I really love that we return to that reminder over and over. It’s too important to be forgotten. Hugo also mentions that Myriel has really nice teeth. We also see this mentioned with Fantine and Enjolras. At first I thought maybe it had to do with symbolism of the purity of soul, or something. but then I also got to thinking that it had to possibly do with the ability to create powerful words? Not sure how to extend the speech bit to Fantine, though. Myriel had the effect on Napoleon that he has on an ordinary man. Is this a dig saying that Napoleon was too ordinary to be a good leader? No, seriously, I am asking because sometimes (most of the time) I am bad at reading, especially stuff like this. Does anybody know when this chapter was written, since we see some of Hugo’s political ideas shift throughout the novel since he spent so long writing it? Commentary Columbina I love this post for all your I CAN RELATE TO THIS bits because sometimes I feel like I’m the only one being like “Let me use this great work of literature as an excuse to talk about myself” so it is reassuring to see other people going “I like this simply because it aligns with my personal beliefs.” Let’s be centers of the universe together. I appreciate the line “While allowing that God had not created Monseigneur Welcome for political functions…” This is where the important idea of it’s ok to not be perfect because that doesn’t have anything to do with your value as a person came in strongly to me for the first time. We have this figure that we have been basically told to revere, and our omnipotent (well, mostly) narrator says that he is not perfect, but that’s PERFECTLY FINE BECAUSE GOD DIDN’T MEAN HIM TO BE! I don’t know, it hit home for me maybe a little more than the examples we have seen in other characters so far. YESSSSS. “Try to be perfect, that’s awesome, we should all do that, but you’re probably not going to succeed. Find the bits where you don’t and work on them.” Hugo also mentions that Myriel has really nice teeth. We also see this mentioned with Fantine and Enjolras. At first I thought maybe it had to do with symbolism of the purity of soul, or something. but then I also got to thinking that it had to possibly do with the ability to create powerful words? Not sure how to extend the speech bit to Fantine, though. This really threw me out of the story when I was reading it because it was such an odd detail - I put it down to being maybe a cultural thing, maybe it was more normal to include teeth in a description of someone back then / in France, but I like your interpretation that has actual depth.